Calling all ’steel magnolias’
There aren’t too many women who don’t relate on some level to the characters in the popular play and movie “Steel Magnolias.”
Rob Harling’s off-Broadway play in the late 1980s was made into a hit movie in 1989. (Yes, it’s been 20 years!)
The story about the heartwarming (and sometimes contentious) bond among a group of Louisiana friends is universal for women, but especially seems to speak to us Southern gals.
And this fall, the Rome Little Theatre is bringing all the action of Truvy’s beauty parlor — and the ladies who gather there to dish as well as support one another through life’s twists and turns — to the stage of the historic DeSoto Theatre in October.
But on Thursday, Oct. 22, RLT is once again hosting its popular Ladies Night Out benefit that will include a special staging of the show along with a reception beforehand with wine and hors d’oeuvres and women-oriented vendors.
The event is a fundraiser for the RLT, the Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation and the Magnolia Foundation, a new nonprofit venture that’s the brainchild of Lisa Smith, Rome’s local tourism maven. Having lost her mother Lily Joyce Spradley Satcher to colon cancer, Lisa’s — and the foundation’s — aim is to provide vouchers for colonoscopies (and perhaps other vital medical screenings) for women without medical insurance and the means to pay for such tests and perhaps save some lives in the process.
And Magnolia magazine will, of course, be part of all of this.
In fact, we want you to be part of it too!
We want you to tell us about your favorite “steel magnolia.” Not from the play or movie — from real life. Your life.
Write and tell us, in 350 words or less, about a local woman you consider a “steel magnolia,” someone who has shown notable strength and resolution, whether in the face of a particular challenge or situation or over many years.
We’ll select several women to spotlight in the next edition of Magnolia and we’ll give those we select a pair of tickets to the Ladies Night Out event and recognize them that special night.
You can email your submissions to me or mail them to: Steel Magnolias, c/o Charlotte Atkins, 305 E. 6th Ave., Rome, GA 30161.
Please include your name, a daytime phone number and email address.
The deadline for submissions is Sept. 25.
